Thursday, February 06, 2014

A Lunar New Year might require a new start

It has been slightly over ten days since my last post - and I haven't allowed my blogging to fall by the wayside again, hehehe. Picking up this blog has reminded me how shitty/rusty my writing has gotten, how many eyeballs I used to have but have left this blog, and has given new impetus to the act of stitching and showing progress, not only to friends old and new around the world, but also to myself.

Stitching has been rather slow since finishing Paradigm Lost, although I managed to finish another page of Mette (see previous post), but much of that was due to a difficult January (did I mention that my job stresses me out? - time to change that) and one that was filled with getting lots of errands done and getting ready for the Chinese New Year. You know, shopping for the family, getting the cat ready for his long weekend alone, making sure the house is all clean, etc.

Since the Chinese traditionally follow a lunar calendar, and the moon decided that Jan 31 is the first day of the year (and seeing as I phased Jan 1's new start), I grabbed an easy project to take out of town with me.

Here is my unofficial new year's new start: Midsummer Night's Designs Medieval Mermaid. On a piece of 32ct linen scrap, using one of the DMC colour variations for that wavy sort of feeling LOL

Festive season stitching (but not theme-appropriate)

I spent CNY at my late grandparents', and stayed a little longer to commemorate the 49th day after my beloved aunt's passing. According to Buddhists, after 49 days, the soul moves onto the next phase... what it is, whether rebirth or sitting around waiting for afterworld bureaucracy to get in order, is anyone's best - but however it is, I hope she is where she wants to be and she is happy. I've been wanting to stitch a commemorative piece in her honour, because scarcely a day goes by that I don't think of her - and sadly, that I didn't spend as much time as I would've liked with her.

I don't know what yet - but maybe Zen Garden would be a great choice. Come to think of it, as she was a devout Buddhist - I can't think of a better one, what with the tranquil gardens and four fish and the four Buddhas looking over north, south, east and west. (ok, so... stitching plans for 2015 has just begun...)

In other news, one of my brothers-from-another-mother (I have a few) decided to take up Chinese ink painting. This means it's majorly black, on rather thin sheets of Chinese rice-paper, which has an odd texture. I decided to keep him company, but apparently... I'm pretty crap about sticking to a monochrome in painting... (warning: it's not very good)

I think a little Asian-themed stitching is up next, seeing that it's another eight days until Chinese New Year is over. So... that Wisdom geisha will get a little attention. Till the next time, my friends.

3 comments:

I love that mermaid you're stitching! Very cool choice fir your new start. I also think your Chinese water colors look great - much better than I could do, for sure. Happy Chinese New Year, and, of course, happy stitching!